Fraud By Grad Student Alleged In Gilbert's Lab

The University's standing committee on professional conduct is investigating possible research fraud by a graduate student working in the laboratories of Nobel Prize winning professor Walter Gilbert '53, biology department sources said this week.

The sources said that Gilbert, Loeb university professor and chair of the Department of Cellular and Developmental Biology, had not engaged in any wrongdoing himself.

Gilbert said yesterday he could not discuss the matter because University policy makes it confidential. The professor said he makes his policy on research fraud very clear to lab workers, and that he is extremely vigilant about preventing and detecting any fraud. "I'm very conscious of the need to keep good laboratory notes, and we distribute detailed instructions," Gilbert said.

According to workers in the laboratory, the graduate student, whose name was not disclosed, was one of about a half dozen researchers in Gilbert's lab who studied zebrafish as a model for early development.

He allegedly changed data to make it appear as though an experiment with the fish's genes had worked better than it actually had. No source witnessed any alteration of data.

The data at issue was cited by Gilbert in a draft of a paper, sources said. Another researcher questioned the data, and upon further tests, was unable to obtain the same results.

Three sources said the graduate student still has laboratory privileges.

Gilbert referred other questions to University Attorney Anne Taylor. Taylor said yesterday afternoon she "could not confirm or deny" any investigation or allegation of research fraud.

Workers in the laboratory said Gilbert acted swiftly, and three said Gilbert brought the matter to the attention of the University. Richard M. Losick, professor of biology and chair of the standing committee on professional conduct, refused to comment on the matter this week, as did three other members of the standing committee.

A ruling from the committee is expected in the next two to four weeks, lab workers said.

In addition, some sources said that the federal Office of Research Integrity had been made aware of the allegation of fraud. Dr. Kay Fields '63, senior scientist at the office, said she could not confirm or deny that the case had gone to her office.

Fields said her office, in general, relies on reports prepared by investigating committees inside universities. She said neither Gilbert nor any other employee of Harvard's biological labs has ever been found to have engaged in research fraud. Those found guilty of fraud can be banned from received federal funds for up to 10 years.

Gilbert shared the 1980 Nobel Prize in chemistry for discovering a rapid method to decode base sequenced in DNA and then applying in to produce materials like interferon and insulin. He also served' as chair of Biogen, a biotechnology firm based in both Geneva and Cambridge.

Seven Faculty members in the department interviewed this week said allegations of fraud happen rarely--"about once every 10 years," one professor said. Professors say they routinely duplicate experiments and construct series of tests to build on one another so as to catch fraud or other errors. Faculty members said that the supervision of researchers by professors is not fool-proof.

"Any lab has to be run on the basis of trust," said Vleck Professor of Pure and Applied Physics Paul C. Martin '52, a member of the committee on professional conduct. "In general, it's wise for professors to let people know and advise them on what should be done in the lab. In fact, one of the people who has developed the clearest procedures is Wally Gilbert."

Gilbert has spoken out against research fraud in the past. He publicly criticized fellow Nobel Prize lau-reate and former MIT professor David Baltimore for a paper he co-authored some seven years ago.

"Wally has been so critical of some other people; especially David Baltimore," one professor said.

Reached yesterday at Rockefeller University in New York, where he is president, Baltimore said that he hoped the allegation would give Gilbert "a better perspective" on allegation of research fraud.

The Faculty of Arts and Sciences booklet, "Principles and Policies that Govern Your Research and Other Professional Activities," governs the University response in the case of an allegation of misconduct in research. According to that booklet, a report from the investigating committee will go to Dean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles for study and approval.

Knowles declined to comment yesterday

A ruling from the committee is expected in the next two to four weeks, lab workers said.

In addition, some sources said that the federal Office of Research Integrity had been made aware of the allegation of fraud. Dr. Kay Fields '63, senior scientist at the office, said she could not confirm or deny that the case had gone to her office.

Fields said her office, in general, relies on reports prepared by investigating committees inside universities. She said neither Gilbert nor any other employee of Harvard's biological labs has ever been found to have engaged in research fraud. Those found guilty of fraud can be banned from received federal funds for up to 10 years.

Gilbert shared the 1980 Nobel Prize in chemistry for discovering a rapid method to decode base sequenced in DNA and then applying in to produce materials like interferon and insulin. He also served' as chair of Biogen, a biotechnology firm based in both Geneva and Cambridge.

Seven Faculty members in the department interviewed this week said allegations of fraud happen rarely--"about once every 10 years," one professor said. Professors say they routinely duplicate experiments and construct series of tests to build on one another so as to catch fraud or other errors. Faculty members said that the supervision of researchers by professors is not fool-proof.

"Any lab has to be run on the basis of trust," said Vleck Professor of Pure and Applied Physics Paul C. Martin '52, a member of the committee on professional conduct. "In general, it's wise for professors to let people know and advise them on what should be done in the lab. In fact, one of the people who has developed the clearest procedures is Wally Gilbert."

Gilbert has spoken out against research fraud in the past. He publicly criticized fellow Nobel Prize lau-reate and former MIT professor David Baltimore for a paper he co-authored some seven years ago.

"Wally has been so critical of some other people; especially David Baltimore," one professor said.

Reached yesterday at Rockefeller University in New York, where he is president, Baltimore said that he hoped the allegation would give Gilbert "a better perspective" on allegation of research fraud.

The Faculty of Arts and Sciences booklet, "Principles and Policies that Govern Your Research and Other Professional Activities," governs the University response in the case of an allegation of misconduct in research. According to that booklet, a report from the investigating committee will go to Dean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles for study and approval.

Knowles declined to comment yesterday